Twilight comes to the South Pole (non-vampire version)

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I admit, it's a bit of a stretch to tie sunlight to the end of summer, but for those eager to see the first leaves of autumn fall, here is a sign that summer is in its last legs (if the Back to School shopping mobs didn't tip you off yet):

This photo was taken from the ICE neutrino detector lab at the South Pole last week. The sun has now reached an altitude where it is just 12 degrees below the horizon which means it is official Nautical Twilight there -- the first time they've seen any real sunlight down there in months (since it's their winter.)

It starts the countdown to the first sunrise of the season, which is on the autumnal equinox. (Although as I wrote in the spring there is always some question as to when the first sunrise and sunset really is down there.)

Here is another neat photo from way down under, taken from the ICE Lab in the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. A full moon provided a faint glow on the ground as the first inkling of twilight appeared on the horizon.

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Walk around the Puget Sound area and you'll notice trees starting to bloom and perhaps the whirr of a lawn mower or two, even though winter still had a solid 3-4 weeks left in its reign.

Seattle finished up February as the warmest on record, on the heels of a very warm January (and record-warm December) as well, and the early spring-time weather has in tandem brought out the first signs of spring.

In what will go down as one of the best -- or worst -- winters on record, depending on what you want out of a Seattle winter, now there will be some meteorological trophies to go along with the memories.

Seattle has set its record for all-time warmest February since official measurements began at Sea-Tac Airport. The average temperature (high temperature plus low temperature, divided by two) was 48.8 degrees narrowly edging 1977's record at 48.7. (And I mean narrowly. Had Saturday just been one degree cooler, it would have been a tied record instead.)